Carrol Daily Times Herald from Carroll, Iowa · Page 6

The Bad Old Days Haunt an Ex-Nazi By TOM TIEDE WASHINGTON (NEA) - According to John Patler, he had a fight with his wife on the afternoon of Aug. 25. 1967, and left his home to take a walk. According to police, he did nothing of the kind. They say he stood on a roof above a shopping center laundromat in Virginia, fired a pistol and killed his friend and confidant, American Nazi "fuehrer" George Lincoln Rockwell. A 1967 jury believed the police and John Patler, now 32, a former American Nazi party captain, is legally guilty of first-degree murder. But today, many ptoplt in this area do not really know whom to believe. Patler served six months of a 20-year sentence, then was released on $40,000 bail, pending appeals. He has been out of jail for more than a year. And as some Wash- lingtonians wonder: "If he's a murderer, why did he only get 20 years? And if he's a murderer, what in God's name is he doing out of jail among the rest of us?" Patler himself seems the only one not confused by the whole situation. He has lain awake many nights figuring it out. His conclusion is: "People are trying to make amends. 1 think the judge and jury realize I didn't kill anybody. 1 remember even the prosecutor, who demanded I get the chair; after the trial he walked up to me and said, 'I'm sorry, John, I had a job to do.' So I was a convenient scapegoat, that's all. I think those people all realize that now." For thosa who knaw John Patler in the bad old days, it's Timet Herald, Carroll, fa. Tuetdoy, Oct. 27, 1970 strange to see the man on the streete today. And not only because he has been convicted of murder. As one of Rockwell's most trusted aides, Patier was strictly a Nazi stereotype — stiff, sneering, a hater of Jews, Negroes, Catholics; an alto- j gether despicable sort who al-! ways tried to be uglier than thou. Yet in the autumn of this j new decade, he appears an entirely different man. He has reassumed his birthright name (Patsalos) which he formerly cursed as too alien. He has abandoned the starched shirt and tie routine for open neck, semi-mod attire. His crew cut has grown out to bushiness. And, most interesting, he says he has begun to champion minority group misery as his own cause: "It seems to shock people that I've changed from a hater of blacks to a lover of them. But really it's not all that strange. I've finally realized just how close I am to blacks, and browns and other depressed people. I'm Greek, I have dark eyes and dark hair — and here in America that can work against you. You can grow up, like the black, to think you just don't fit in. "That's the reason I became a Nazi. I hated my name, I hated my nationality and I wanted to strike back at my hate. The Nazis seemed like a good place to do it. It was a special form of suioide, I guess. The Nazis were out to eliminate alien stock, I was out to eliminate my alien past — so I put on the swastika. But now I know that all of them, myself too, were sick." Unfortunately, Patter's ideo- logic switch has not been followed by all of the Nazis of that day. The ANP folded with Rockwell's murder, but some diehards continue. The remnants formed another group — Na- Meet the Reporter Who 'Chickened 9 Out at the 90th Floor of New Building By RALPH NOVAK NEW YORK (NEA) - David Brinkley would have done it. Jimmy Breslin would have done it. Norman Mailer would have done it. Even Lowell Thomas would have done it, and he's 78. But I didn't do it, and now tor the rest of my career I'M probably be known as The Reporter Who Chickened Out at the 90th Floor. It all happened because they're building me w e r I d'» tallest building here again. Actually, they're building the world's two tallest buildings, perhaps so any ffture King Kongs will be able to leap back and forth between them while dodging jett and helicopters. "They" is the Port of New York Authority (PONYA), a New York-New Jersey agency created in 1921 to oversee transportation facilities in this area. The buildings are the twin towers of the World Trade Center, a six-building, $650-million, 16- acrc complex little more than a tranquilizer's throw from Wail Street in lower Manhattan. tional Socialist White People's Party — and though very anemic, they are still around to haunt people. Mostly, they haunt Patler. Occasionally, he says, "They cruise around my house shouting dirty things like 'greasy Greek.'" On one afternoon Patter's wife was shot at. In August the family received a live explosive in the mail. In response, Patler lives a worried life. He moves often. Changes his name back and forth. Watches his step. "I think they're always watching me," he says, "so I never go any place without looking behind me. I know who most of them are — I think one of them may be the guy who really killed Rockwell. I don't think they'd have the guts to kill me, but who can tell?" But bad as they are, the Nazis may be the least of John Patler's troubles. He can stick his hand into his lifesack and pull out any number of greater woes. Money, for istance. He tried to start a Spanish-language newspaper but it folded after an issue. Now he supports his wife, two children and his court fight on what he can: His wife works steady, he works part time and friends and relatives contribute to expenses on occasion. Then there is the court question. Patler has no future until the law decides it. Right now the judiciary is debating whether to free him for good, grant a new trial or send him back to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence. As a supreme burden, Patler has his own reputation. He hopes people will forgive or forget — but that's unlikely. Some nut will always want to antagonize him. Others will always be suspicious of him. At best he will always be an object of curiosity. Guilty or not, he will forever be in a prison of sorts. Ron Lyle of Denver, who won the 1970 National AAU heavyweight boxing title, was released from the Colorado Penitentiary inNovember, 1969, vowing to go straight. He served more than seven years for manslaughter after a man was shot fatally in a gang fight. When they're finished, the towers will have 110 stories and stand 1,350 feet tall, which puts them more in the skypuncturing than skyscraping class. Alcoa is putting nine million pounds of aluminum and an enthusiastic publicity campaign into the project, and it is all because of Alcoa's Tom Hagley, who will not get a Christmas card from me this year, that I was forced to chicken out at the 90th floor. The project is scheduled for completion in 1971 but one of the towers has already sprouted 94 floors high. So I rashly volunteered to go to the top, the better to enlighten America. Curt Heikkila, an information man from the Port Authority, escorted me. Since he takes people up there three or four times a week, I knew he would be evaluating me, so as we walked along the street I carelesly strolled near the curb to show him I wasn't afraid of heights. Before you go on the construction site, you have to stop in the safety office and register. That is, I realize now, in case they can't identify the remains. You also get a yellow plastic hard hat with "PONYA" on it. The temporary elevators in the building skeletons are made of what appears to be chicken wire and plywood, but everybody seems to have confidence in them, so up we went toward the 82nd floor with 25 workmen, all of whom looked like Ernest Borgnine. The 82nd floor turned out to be a nice place to visit, even if you wouldn't want to work there. It was a relatively clear day for New York, so you could see all the way to Jersey City, which is at least eight blocks off. The workmen went about earning their $6 an hour and, even though I was the only person in sight whose hard hat did not have at least one "America — Love It or Leave ft" decal, they were friendly and those who were eating lunch made a point of not throwing their beer cans at me. Then Heikkila asked if I still wanted to go to the top. "Sure," I said, tugging jauntily at the bill of my hat. From the 82nd floor on, there are no elevators, only stairways that get less and less completed the higher you go. I took time to be extra cordial to the workmen, smiling and saying hello as I climbed past (hem, keeping in mind that I might need help later and would probably meet the same people on the way down that I met on 4he way up. The stairways become nonexistent at the 19th floor. Heikkila began leading me over to the ladders that go up to the 90th floor, carelessly strolling across beam-spanning planks. As you walk the planks, you can see workmen five stories below if you look down, which I didn't. You could also, it occurred to me, fall right down there with those workmen if you walked anywhere but right in the middle of the planks, which I also didn't. Then came the m o m e n t of truth. The ladders. "Well, here we go," said Heikkila, starting to climb. "Wait a minute," said the intruder, not starting to climb. The ladders were just plain old ordinary rung ladders, and they went up about 8,000 feet before you got a n y w h e r e. I thought about what a lousy sense of balance 1 have; about Leaning Out at a Dizzying Height Above New York's Streets, a Workman Installs a Section of One of the New World Trade Center Towers. ihow slippery my shoes were; about how my wife needed me to change the oil in the car every 2,000 miles. Then I thought about what a thrill it would be to say I'd been to the top. That old climb-it-because-it's-there feeling coursed through my veins. I felt the adventuring Polish spirit of my ancestors spurring me on. I could hear my late Uncle Ziggy saying, "You can do it, Ralph." But finally I remembered what a good saying it is that discretion is the better part of valor. "No, thanks, Curt," I said. "I just remembered that I have an appointment down on the ground somewhere." Heikkila looked down at me from up on the ladder and shrugged. "Well," he said graciously, "you probably would have gotten your clothes dirty up there, anyway." Questions, Answers on Tax Matters Thu column of qnastions «nd atiMvpri mi fdernl tax matter* t« nrSvl.l<><J by the local Offleft of ilia V-! 1 *. Internal COMPLETE TEXT OF Amendments to the Constitution of Iowa rvp. n public service to taxpayers. The column answer* anestlons mort asked by taxpayer*. 0 _ I sold ««mt farmland at « sizeable profit. Can I rt- duce my taxes by using irtcama averaging? A - Yes, capital gains are eligible for averaging. There are new provisions on both capital gains and averaging so check with either your local County Agent or IPS office if you have any questions about them when you file your return next year. Q _ Is it too late to maka< « change in the return I filed for 1969? I think I'm entitled to a deduction for moving expenses. A - You may still claim tills expense by filing Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. As a general rule, you have three years from the date your return was due to claim items you forgot. Copies of the form and instructions for completing it may be obtained by writing to your District Director. Q — I » money given a maid for carfare subject to Social Security tax? A — Yes, the Social Security tax applies to the total cash paid a household employee, even though some is paid for transportation. Tax payments for the July, August, September quarter are due Nov. 2. Any person who has paid $50 or more cash wages in a quarter to an employee for household services (cleaning, gardening, etc.) must file a return using Form 942, Employer's Quarterly Tax Return for Household Employees. (Notice to voters: For an affirmative vote upon any question submitted upon this ballot make a cross (X) mark or check ( v ) in the square after the word "YES". For a negative vote make a similar mark in the square following the word "NO".) Shall the following amendment to the constitution be adopted? Shall the following amendment to the constitution be adopted? Section thirteen (13) of Article five (V) of th« Constitution of th« State of Iowa as amended by Amendment four (4) of the Amendments of eighteen hundred tighty«fouf (1884) is hereby repealed. Section one (1) of Article two (II) of the Constitution, as amended in eighteen hundred sixty-eight (1868), is hereby repealed and the following is hereby adopted in lieu thereof; "Section 1. Every citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one (21) years, who shall have been a resident of this State for such period of time as shall be provided by law and of the county in which he claims his vote for suqji period of time as shall be provided by law, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or hereafter may be authorized by law. The General Assembly may provide by law for different periods of residence in order to vote for various officers or in order to vote in various elections. The required periods of residence shall 'not exceed six months in this State and sixty (60) days in the county." Constitutional Convention Proposition Shall the following amendment to the constitution be adopted? (Notice to voters: For an affirmative vote upon the question submitted upon this ballot, make a cross (X) mark or check (V) in the square after the word "YES". For a negative vote make a similar mark in the square following the word "NO"). Article three (HI) of the Constitution of the State of Iowa is hereby amended by adding thereto the following new section: "Section 39. In establishing senatorial and representative districts, the state shall be divided into as many senatorial districts as there are members of the senate and into as many representative districts as there are membrs of the house of representatives. One (1) senator shall be elected from each senatorial district and one (1) representative shall be elected from each representative district." Shall there be a Convention to revise the Constitution, and propose amendment or amendments to same? Vote en til names on Judicial Ballot by turning down "YES" or "NO" lever below each namo and leaving it down. STATE OF IOWA JUDICIAL BALLOT November 3, 1970 SHALL THE FOLLOWING JUDGES BE RETAINED IN OFFICE? SUPREME COURT WARREN J. REES 2 YES i NO DISTRICT COURT R. K. BRANNON 3 YES 3 NO DISTRICT COURT DAVID HARRIS 4 YES 4 NO DISTRICT COURT A. J. BRAGINTON S YES NO THREE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF IOWA (NOTICE TO VOTERS: For on affirmative vote upon each of the Amendments submitted upon this ballot, turn down the voting lever over the word "YES". For a negative vote turn down the voting lever over the word "NO".) The entire text of each of these amendments is on display on the left-hand side inside the curtain on this machine. SUMMARY OF IOWA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT To allow the General Assembly to alter periods of residence to vote for various officers or in various elections. SHALL THE ABOVE AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED? 9 YES 9 NO SUMMARY OF IOWA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT T« require tingle member legislative districts for mem- ben «f the ttenerel Assembly. SHALL THI AiOVi AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED? W YES M NO SUMMARY OF IOWA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT Te repeal the Constitutional requirement for the office end election of County Attorney. SHALL THE ABOVE AMENDMENT BE ADOPTED? 13 YES 13 NO QUESTION OF CALLING A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION — (NOTICE TO VOTERS: For an affirmative vote upon the question submitted upon this ballot, turn down the voting lever over the word "YES". For a negative vote turn down the voting lever over the word "NO".) CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION PROPOSITION Shall there be a Convention to revise the Constitution, and propose amendment op amendments te same? 17 NO 17 YES n n n n D n n n n n n n n n a a Offices FOR Governor FOR FOR Republican O D 1A Democratic O ^™ m*mmmmm American Independent O Retort D. Ray Polk Co. Lieutenant Governor Secretary of State D D WriH-ln Candida!** O IB Robtrt D. Fulton Black Hawk Co. 2 A Roger W. Jepsen Scott Co. n n 3 A Melvin D. Synhorst Polk Co. 2B D Rofeort Dilly Po& Co. Doclerer Johnson Co. n 3 B Sharon R. Robinson Polk Co. D D D FOR FOR Auditor of State Treasurer of State n n 4A Lloyd R. Smith Polk Co. 5 A Mauriot I. Baringer Polk Co. n D 4B Donald E. Linduski Woodbury Co. SB William D. Palmer Polk Co. D D FOR FOR Sec'y of Agriculture Attorney General n n 6 A L. B. Liddy Van Buren Co. 7 A Richard C. Turner Pottawattamie n n 6B K911110til E* Owen Appanoose Co. 7B Raymond T. Walton Scott Co. D D FOR Rep. in Congress Seventh District FOR State Senator Fourteenth District n n 8A William J. Scherle Mills Co. 9A Arthur A. Neil Carroll Co. n n 8B Lou Galetich Carroll Co. »B Mary Baumhover Carroll Co. D D 10 FOR State Representative Twenty-Eighth District 11 FOR County Treasurer 10 A DMh West Carroll Co. n n 10 B Chariot E. Knoblauch Sr. Carroll Co. 11 B Berniea Williams 10 D D 12 13 FOR FOR Recorder County Attorney 12 B Ray P. Reicks n IB David E. Green 12 13 D D 14 FOR County Supervisor Second District 1971 Term D 14 B Waltor Koster 14 D 15 FOR County Supervisor Second District Un. 1967 Term 15 D 16 FOR County Supervisor Fifth District Un. 1970 Term D Vft D D 16 B If B Jack Thein Gmck 16 17 16 D D D m M FOR (Two to be BUctod) D Clark D D D D OFFICIAL JUDICIAL, CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT, CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION PROPOSITION AND GENERAL ELECTION BALLOTS November 3, 1970 Precinct Carroll County, Iowa £&^@&*u>*<£JL County Auditor SAMPLE BALLOT OFFICIAL ABSENT OR DISABLED VOTERS BALLOT — INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTING: MARK A CROSS (X) OR A CHECK (V) IN AT LEFT END OF BALLOT IF YOU WISH TO VOTE A STRAIGHT TICKET, OB MARK A CROSS (X) OR A CHECK (V) JN SQUARE OVER CANDIDATE'S NAME FOR WHOM YOU WISH TO VOTE AND UNDER "YES" OR "NO" ON THE SPECIAL QUESTIONS.